1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to suture fixation, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for using a looped nitinol wire suture passer for arthroscopic suture fixation of tissue.
2. Description of the Related Art
Arthroscopic suturing techniques and instruments have been developed in order to facilitate the suturing of tissue during arthroscopic surgical procedures. In arthroscopic surgery, access to a surgical work site within a patient's body is normally provided through one or more portals formed directly in the patient's body or through one or more cannulas inserted into the patient's body through small incisions. A chosen surgical procedure is carried out by a surgeon through the use of elongated instruments inserted through these cannulas and it often becomes necessary to suture selected tissue at the surgical work site.
Since the work site is only accessible through a small portal or cannula and since it is very difficult to tie sutures within the body, various devices and techniques have been developed to enable the surgeon to manipulate sutures arthroscopically. For example, some procedures enable the surgeon to pass suture material through selected tissue, form a surgical knot extracorporeally and then move the knot with a knot pusher through the portal or cannula into position adjacent the desired tissue to be sutured. Some instruments used to pass the suture incorporate a hollow needle provided with some means, often a wire loop, to guide suture through the tissue pierced by the needle. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,728, which discloses a non-metallic suture shuttle having loops on opposite ends for passing through the bore of a roller type suture passing device. In one embodiment, each loop of the suture shuttle includes a short leader portion in the form of a single strand monofilament for threading the suture shuttle through the bore of the elongated instrument. In another embodiment, the short leader portion is eliminated, and the surgeon must squeeze the leading loop together to insert the shuttle into the bore of the elongated instrument.
It would be desirable to provide a suture shuttle for insertion in bore of an elongated which does not require either a monofilament leader portion or the step of squeezing the leading loop.